Second Chances

Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the High School Musical world, which is trademarked by Disney. I do not claim any ownership over them or the world of High School Musical. The story I tell here about Troy and Gabriella is my own invention, and it is not supported or believed to be part of Disney story canon. This story is for entertainment only and is not part of the official story line.

Gabriella

Time to bring it home. Make them feel everything.

Raising her chin, she came closer to the microphone.

"It's been so easy with what Robert, and she shared. A fresh hurt surged inside her from this knowledge of betrayal, but with it came the determination to find who had really ripped this hole in the fabric of her world. She would track down whoever it was, man or woman, beast or machine. And she would exact her revenge. For her people. For humanity."

Dramatic pause

"And most of all, for him." A beat of silence.

And she was done.

Gabriella Montez shoved off her headphones and let out a sigh of relief, now after all those gruesome vocal miles, she'd crossed the finish line.

She opened the door of her booth and stepped into the control room, letting out a porky pig rendition of "T-T-THAT'S ALL FOLKS!" to the gal on the other side of the glass. "That's another four hundred pages of teenage angst, fights, brutal death, and stolen kisses in the can."

"I'll drink to that," Taylor said, joining her in a raise-the roof-dance from her chair at the sound desk.

The latest young adult fantasy novel she narrated required a full week in the booth to knock out the story of a seventeen-year-old orphan who rises above her station to become a warrior princess and save her people from intruders from another land.

"When the publisher said it was an epic story, they weren't kidding," Taylor said, pushing her bright pink braids back behind her ear. Taylor McKenzie was her primary engineer for the young adult audiobooks Gabriella narrated. From epic fantasies to the space operas, to the contemporary John Green and Stephanie Perkins style novels, she handled all the audio.

Looking into the sound booth through the huge glass window Gabriella stared at the now-empty stool where she'd been sitting and reading from. Her eyes shifted towards the table next to Taylor's laptop, at the giant, flat, square piece of equipment lined with all sorts of buttons and switches.

"I am exhausted on behalf of Robert and Elena," Those were the love interest in her latest tale.

Taylor stares at her sharply. "There is no time for exhaustion. Tomorrow, you're coming back to the salt mines and play a jaded teen who inherits her grandmother's doll shop," she says, referring to the contemporary teen novel on tomorrow's docket.

Gabriella nodded solemnly. "Count on me and my lover caffeine to be here bright and early."

Taylor smiled, "Alright, go take a break. Have some honey and hot tea tonight to treat those golden vocal cords. We need them in tip-top shape tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," Gabriella says, reaching for her purse and leaving the booth, heading down the hall of the recording studio that she owned an itty-bitty stake in, a stake that she would love to grow into something bigger.

Someday. She reminded herself.

A few feet away ahead of her, a young man and woman laugh then duck into studio B. They're the Evan siblings, and she'd given the twenty-something brother and sister musical duo a tour of the studio a few weeks ago when they were searching for a place to record. They were recently discovered online by an agent who now has nabbed them for several commercials, as well as a couple of songs.